On Monday, two multimodal paths that make connections in the north part of town got a greenlight for their next phases: the acquisition of right-of-way from owners of property along the routes.

In this context, “multimodal” means the facility is engineered for pedestrians and bicyclists.

The approvals from the Bloomington redevelopment commission (RDC) for the next steps were uncontroversial for both projects: a northward extension of the existing B-Line Trail; and filling the gap between Monroe and Grant Streets in the multimodal path along the north side of 17th Street.

Construction for the projects won’t start until 2023.

Both approvals of right-of-way (ROW) acquisition came with a significant price drop compared to the previously estimated cost.

For the B-Line Trail extension, the drop in estimated cost to get control of the necessary ROW was from $897,000 down to $400,000, nearly half a million dollars.

For the 17th Street multimodal path, the drop in estimated ROW cost was even more—from $1,590,000 down to $650,000 for a difference of $940,000.

Between the two projects, that makes $1.4 million less in ROW costs, compared to the amount that was initially estimated. Continue reading “Multimodal update: Total right-of-way acquisition costs for 2 Bloomington paths drop by $1.4M” →